


Merman

by TheTartWitch



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989), Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Kurogane is slightly stronger than Prince Charming will ever be, M/M, Mermaids, very little KuroFai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 00:10:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5184881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fai is a merman. Literally the whole plot.<br/>(Kurogane may or may not like it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The waves grow higher, and it’s all he can do to keep them from swallowing him. He clings to his lady’s trunk, intent on staying afloat. Luckily it’s mostly empty and full of air.

          By the time the storm’s ended he’s exhausted, barely able to stay awake _and_ hold onto the trunk, and it’s all made worse by that little flash of silver he keeps seeing in the corner of his eye every time he turns his head. It’s infuriating, the way he can’t seem to get a fix on it, and for a few moments he worries it’s a shark or some other man-eating water creature. He dismisses these notions; it hasn’t made a move against him, and miraculously enough he’s not bleeding, so there’s almost no bait for it to attack. Sure, underwater he might look a little like a seal (and he can feel something in his underwear that most definitely _should not_ be in there), but he doesn’t let himself panic.

          Suddenly, there are hands climbing over the other edge of the trunk and a face in his. He blinks, maybe a little shocked that someone managed to sneak up on him (and in the ocean, no less), and doesn’t say anything. The person just looks at him with some mixture of curiosity and satisfaction, like they’ve managed something wonderful and forbidden.

          He studies them right back, committing the features to memory for later reference.

          It’s a man. Blonde hair is plastered to his face and down his (bare, Kurogane notices with a slight frown, this guy’s _practically naked_ in the _ocean_ ) shoulders and into the water. He has silver pirate’s rings in the lobes of his ears and up the cartilage that glint in the morning sun, and his blue eyes laugh at Kurogane’s predicament without his mouth so much as quirking from his annoying smirk. Along his shoulder blades, a strange, swirling tattoo that might vaguely resemble wings arches.

          When the man finally opens his mouth, it’s to laugh (Kurogane is instantly annoyed, but he isn’t sure why. It’s a perfectly nice laugh. Maybe that’s why he’s annoyed). His eyes scrunch up and his mouth swings upward like a bow about to be released. His teeth flash white, and Kurogane shields his eyes (against this guy’s _teeth_. That’s not _totally annoying_ at all) with one hand. His other almost slips, but the man grabs it and hauls it back up with a surprising amount of strength.

          The man turns away from the chest with an elegant twist and dives, and Kurogane’s eyes widen in awe as a glittering silver tail surfaces behind him like a whale’s.

          _A merman?_

-*-

          He’s rescued pretty quick after that, and he’s told people are saying he’s descended from some god or other, to hold on that long. He tells no one but his patron, the princess Tomoyo, about the merman that appeared to him. As opposed to reporting him and removing him, she believes his story. She always was very spiritual.

          She devises a plan to meet with the merman again. She doesn’t want to capture him, seeing as mermen are sacred and it’s a horrible crime to harm one or hold one captive, but she’d like the opportunity to speak with one.

          “Think, Kurogane!” She implores, laying back on her bed and spreading her arms wide. “What might they know that we’ve never even thought to question? What are we missing out on? What if we could become _friends_?” She sits up on the last question, eyes wide and excited. He smirks at her.

          “You sound like a child, Lady.” He says, and then dodges the pillow thrown haphazardly towards his head, laughing.

-*-


	2. Continued!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I finally came back to this fic and added a chapter and maybe some plot. ;) please enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was rereading my fics and realized I had an idea for the continuation of this fic, so here, I'm posting it. :) Might do another chapter soon, if I don't get distracted.

          Despite Kurogane’s best attempts to derail his lady’s plans to contact the merman, he had been sent out with a large enough chest of money to sustain himself for a month and get gifts from the land for the man of the sea. As Tomoyo had put it, ‘ _everyone likes new things, except for sailors and my assistant._ ’

          So Kurogane was a little tetchy. The only saving grace of the ship he’d had to take to get him closer to the bay he’d landed in after the shipwreck had been that the sailors seemed to realize conversation was unappreciated. Tomoyo had apologized for not joining him, but as the queen’s younger sister she had duties receiving the Clow Kingdom’s ambassador when he stopped in Tokyo City. He wasn’t truly upset about it; it was just too tempting to play with Tomoyo’s emotions when the matter at hand was something trivial.

          His arrival in Celes, the town by the ocean’s edge, was cold. For a start, the land was covered in ice and frost and exceptionally large snowflakes, so he was always bundled up. There were no soldiers stationed in the small town at the moment, so no one came to greet him from a military standpoint. Besides that, though, it seemed to be a charming enough town to Kurogane (no loud, alarming bar fights to be heard; no stray animals or people wandering the streets) and for that, he was grateful. He’d hate to be stationed in a town where he was constantly stuck breaking up altercations and having no time to fulfill his lady’s expectations.

          After walking down the beach until the sky turned a poached purple and gleaming gold, Kurogane came across a moderate hut fashioned into the side of a sudden hill rising up out of the dunes. It appeared to be the one Tomoyo had commissioned for him. Investigation nearby offered up a slight cove tucked inside the hill, which was more than large enough to have large enough rooms.

          Kurogane decided that for tonight he would leave a slight message in the cove just in case the merman had noticed his return. He hadn’t known what a merman might find useful, but he had decided to start with a few woven nets of the most durable of materials. Leaving them by the entrance to the cove, he settled into the hut for the night and slept easily.

(0)

          At the water’s edge, a blond head popped up out of the water like a puppy hearing the front door unlock after a long day.

          The nets were dragged into the water with a slim grasping hand and the water closed over the top of it with barely a ripple. A fish was tossed out of the water to land in a basket sitting by the front door of the land man’s hut. A thank-you for the gift.   

**Author's Note:**

> This is currently a one-shot. If someone wants to send me ideas or thoughts pertaining a sequel, I will listen but I don't know if I'll update. :)


End file.
